


Tales of Ancient Gaea

by Dark Stars (ivorybyrd)



Category: Tenkuu no Escaflowne | The Vision of Escaflowne
Genre: Beast Clan - Freeform, Escaflowne the movie, F/M, Gen, Headcanons used, The movie was secretly a sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 16:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15538164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivorybyrd/pseuds/Dark%20Stars
Summary: The village elder recites old tales of ancient Gaea.





	Tales of Ancient Gaea

**Author's Note:**

> This is for this month's Pic'n'fic! I had to write for Fruitso's wonderful art of the Adom clan's elder telling tales. I got to stretch my brain for something he'd tell. This was a lot of fun to think back at some old ideas!

The elder waved his staff through the swirls of smoke as the sun ascended behind the mountain; casting a long shadow over the village. 

His voice was hoarse as he spoke, pausing for a moment to clear his throat before ending the final wise words for the morning over the village’s meal. He offered them a prayer for a good gathering for the day, and left his final words and offering for the gods at the shrine. 

The day promised to bring little clouds or ill weather. As the flames of war had long been extinguished, so had the effects of it. The gods had blessed them once again with plentiful crops and a good hunt. His offerings celebrated the end of that accursed war. 

One of the older children had found him in his most relaxing spot in a field outside the village. The sun would shined warmest there and bring ease to his old bones. He only opened his left eye a little to glance at her as he meditated. 

Yuka plopped down on the grass, crossing her legs under her red dress. She bobbed from side to side, watching him for several quiet moments. 

“Yes, little one?” He asked. 

“Elder, can I have a story?” 

“A story my dear?” One brow rose high, his eye opening to look down at the child. She was still looking up at him expectantly. 

“Mama said she’s too busy with the rice, and papa is on guard duty.” Her tail swished back and forth expectantly. 

“And Grammy?” 

“Oh yeah! I forgot about Grammy, but your stories are better,” she said and then lowered her voice to a whisper. She covered the side of her mouth with her hand. “You don’t leave out all the big kid stuff.” 

He gave a cough of a laugh. “I should probably stop scaring you poor children.” He reached out and ruffled her brown-red hair, still mussed from sleep. 

Her ears laid back and she smiled. “Please?” She asked again. 

“Very well, any requests?” He conceded, and laid his hands over his lap. 

Her head bowed to the side just a bit as she thought; eyes going to the sky. “OH! The story of the goddess and old gaea!” 

“I tell that story every summer solstice, my dear, you should be patient.”

She moaned and started to think again. “Something about the dragon clan,” she suggested. “How did we meet them?” 

“Very well, though this a story you should have heard a hundred times my dear.” 

She still nestled down into her spot and watched him in wait to begin. 

“The story begins well before old Gaea, the beast clans were one of the firsts of old Gaea; the others being the dragon clan themselves. There was an unspoken peace between the two clans. But then there were humans; men and women appeared and created villages. The dragon clan hid away and blended in with the humans for many centuries. In the beginning there were small wars that sparked between the beasts and humans, but in the end peace was reached and maintained for many years. Man treated our clans as they treated each other.

The curse of the dragon clan, however, was revealed and many men warred within themselves to purge the world of the dragon clan that could easily blend in with them. But many years later it was the love of a king that brought much of that discrimination to an end when he chose a dragon clan woman to be his bride, and the mother to his children. 

Over time, man began to accept the dragon clan as they accepted us.” 

“But then Ancient Gaea ended…” Yuka whispered.

The elder nodded. “Ancient Gaea had a great war many many years later, and in the end life was reborn from the rubble. Thus began our generations of peace. The dragon clan returned from the heavens to revitalize the world with the three clans of creatures that once walked the surface. The gods gave us another chance. 

The dragon clan sought out their old homeland, and renamed it Adom.” 

“Sky country!” She interrupted. 

He only chuckled. “Yes, they freely bared their wings, and were blessed with powers to protect themselves from any that would see them dead. However, like the birds they felt the need to travel, but their numbers were still very small. So they sought out their kin, the beast people to share the land with them, to take care of the lush area and protect it from raiders. 

The high king of Adom, the first Fanel was a gracious leader and a friend to the beast clan. He shared his wealth, and they taught his people how to hunt and gather. They came to the aid of the beasts when the time of blood came and many of our people were hunted and enslaved.” 

“Is that why we raised Lord Van?” She asked. 

“Yes, as a favor to the high king.” He had taken a moment to glance around, a couple more children had come to listen and play silently near them. 

“Can we hear the goddess story?” Came a smaller voice to his right. The grey furred Nalo had been patting his back for a few seconds now. 

“I’ve already told Yuka to be patient,” he said and turned to look at the older girl.

She clasped her hands together and tucked her ears down to plead. 

“Very well.” 

She relaxed in her spot by laying down on her stomach and looking up at him with full attention. 

He again cleared his old throat, readying for a long winded tale. He’d give her a condensed version; the entire story was meant for the summer solstice.

“Sometime after our world’s creation, when the lands were new and the oceans still brimmed with life, is where our story begins. 

The goddess, much like the gods that created our world, lived upon the mystic moon. Her heart was fickle and but her mind quick. She called upon a warrior from our world and blessed him a good hunt. The warrior fell in love with the goddess upon first sight and urged her to come with him back to Gaea. He stole her to our world and presented her among his people. 

She was upset by his capturing of her, and her grief began a chain of events. His kingdom was laid to ruin by outside foes and their mechanical army. His people scattered to the winds. But the god of the sky, Escaflowne pitied him and blessed the warrior with his armor to fight the mechanical army. They found many allies, and even more foes on their journey. Even the beginnings of our clan laid aid to the goddess and the chosen warrior. 

But the goddess’s grief grew, for she prophesied the deaths of many, and saw the events unfold. The only death she was able to thwart was the death of the warrior. Her heart was so soaked in the blood of the people of Gaea, that she could not open it to the love she needed to save the world, just yet.

Destiny had been on the line, and the discovery that an evil wizard had been pulling the strings of the army of machines sent to destroy them. The goddess with help of the warrior, defeated the wizard, and destroyed his magic. 

Legend says the goddess could not give her love fully to the warrior, or she would lose her immortality, or that destiny would not let her stay. In the end she left her love with him in the form of a trinket he’d keep with him forever until his death. In the end, the god of the sky, Escaflowne gifted him the ancient armor. Upon the warrior’s death, he was buried within the armor, along with the trinket.”

When he looked up again the crowd had grown in size, a couple more children, Rhum and Yuka’s mother had sat down to join them. 

“The tale tells us that once the goddess left she would not return for thousands of our years, but she would not age but a little. The love in her heart was still sealed within the trinket had slowly let her forget her love, and replaced it with sadness. That sadness of something lost and forgotten turned the goddess into a shell of herself. Until it was again returned to her.”

As he finished the final words, the sun had already crossed the skies and started it’s tuck beneath the hills of trees to the west. Several others had come to listen to the end of the favored story. A couple of the children were already asleep in the warm grass, curled up and snuggled to each other. 

He wearily got up with little assistance from Rhum who was at his side, and little Yuka who took him by the hand. 

“Thank you elder,” she smiled up at him, tail wagging gently. She yawned and was then ushered by her mother get supper. 

He watched them all disperse to eat supper, and he looked towards the sky to see the singular moon hang in the still blue sky.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please check out Fruitso's art on Tumblr!


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